Interim dean awaits approval

By Tracy Culumber

Ilesanmi Adesida, University’s Willet professor of engineering, was named interim dean designate of the University’s College of Engineering on April 1.

Adesida, director of the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory and the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, will formally assume his duties in May if the University’s Board of Trustees approves the designation on Friday.

David Daniel – who was named dean of the college on March 7, 2001 – will continue to serve the University until the end of the Spring term, then leave to become the president of the University of Texas at Dallas starting this summer.

According to the University News Bureau, Daniel will work with Adesida to ensure a smooth transition before his departure.

Adesida earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of California at Berkeley. He taught engineering at Cornell University in New York and at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in Bauchi, Nigeria, from 1979 to 1987, when he joined the University faculty.

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He is currently a professor of electrical and computer engineering and a researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, as well as the president-elect of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.

Interim Chancellor Richard Herman told the News Bureau that Adesida “brings a record of outstanding scientific and engineering accomplishment, administrative experience and understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the college.”

“He has our full confidence, and we are delighted that he has agreed to take on this critical leadership position,” Herman said.

Lawrence C. Eppley, chairman of the Board of Trustees, called for a telephone conference among board members on Friday, April 8, at 4:30 p.m. in order to discuss and vote whether Adesida is the appropriate choice for dean of the college.

Jesse Delia, acting provost, told the News Bureau that a committee is being formed and will be announced shortly to conduct a national search for new permanent leadership of the college.